1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to the field of text translation and localization. More particularly, the invention pertains to systems and methods for generating grammatically correct strings in a target language based on context and a text template in a source language.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many products configured to display text to a user are used or implemented in locales wherein the language used is different from that of the origin of the product. For example, software applications such as computer games which display text to a user can translate the text for use at the locale at which the game is being played. Similarly, it is often desirable for Internet web pages to be presented to a user in their language of choice, where the text of the web page was originally written in a different language.
Localization of text typically includes translation of a word or phrase by persons familiar with the source language and target language. However, these translators often lack the contextual information they need to provide a grammatically correct translation. For example, translators often use the equivalent of s/he, his/her, and ambiguous passive voice to avoid contextual problems, resulting in a generic if not awkward translation. Unfortunately, grammatical rules are too complex and variable for totally automated software, and software application writers have a different knowledge and focus from that needed for localization of text.
Localized products with generic and awkward translations degrade the international user experience and reduce the overall quality of the product. This poor quality impedes penetration of international markets and leads to lost revenue potential for the product. Some attempts have been made at pure machine translation. However, machine translation is costly in terms of the required processing power and unsatisfying in output quality. In addition, pure static text without any variable content is inflexible. Static text for all possible alternatives is typically expensive, and the quality of the translation suffers by not being specific when there are too few alternatives.
Thus, a text localization tool which generates grammatically correct text in a target language is needed in the technology.